


obvious

by hvddock



Series: iron maiden [1]
Category: Black Panther (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Laura Barton, BAMF Tony Stark, Carol Danvers & Tony Stark Friendship, Civil War Team Iron Man, Consequences, Don’t copy to another site, Dysfunctional Relationships, F/M, Female Tony Stark, Gen, Italian Tony Stark, Minor Tony Stark/T'Challa, Past Clint Barton/Laura Barton, Past Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Post-Black Panther (2018), Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Captain Marvel (2019), Post-Doctor Strange (2016), Protective Tony Stark, Team Cap Critical, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, at least i don't think so but whatev, no bashing tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 19:42:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20822765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hvddock/pseuds/hvddock
Summary: hindsight is 20/20 and unfortunately, most of the rogues were not known for their ability to think when put in a tight spot.it is much easier to see what they all could have done different when time has passed, but of course that doesn't mean that toni's new team won't let them face the consequences.





	obvious

**Author's Note:**

> eiza gonzález is my muse for a female toni and no can tell me otherwise.

**natasha **

_“It’s late, Toni.”_

_Natasha wasn’t shocked to find the female mechanic in the kitchen late at night — the woman could only ever be found here or in her lab, tinkering with something. _Another Ultron, _her brain supplied. _

_While she cared about Stark, the older woman couldn’t be trusted by herself anymore after everything with Sokovia and Ultron. If Toni could create an enemy as strong as him without trying, then Natasha didn’t want to see what abomination she could make when she was. Unlike Steve and the others, Natasha knew that Toni wasn’t someone to underestimate; friend _or _foe._

_“Oh,” Natasha watched as the olive-skinned woman turned to her with a weary smile, “Yea, haven’t been able to sleep lately.” Toni sat up a bit straighter and turned back to her cup of what was sure to be some kind of alcoholic beverage._

_She could only hum as she made her way to the kitchen island and sat down beside her, slipping on her own smile, “Nightmares?”_

_Toni didn’t answer — did Natasha really think she’d let go of her ego, even while tired? Instead, the older woman simply sighed and lowered her head to nestle into Natasha’s shoulder. She squirmed a bit, trying to find a comfortable position though she wouldn’t find one while they were sitting at the kitchen island and just huffed in disappointment before stilling._

_She was down in seconds._

_Throughout the whole ordeal, Natasha was still and wide-eyed. _

_While she and Stark didn’t argue like her and Steve (for a couple, they got along as well as cats and dogs), the two females weren’t exactly what you would call close. Really, Natasha was sure that there was still some resentment buried from her time as Ms. Rushman and her report on the Iron Maiden — Iron Maiden, Yes; Toni Stark, Not Recommended._

_Natasha fought the smile that threatened to overtake her and instead carried the woman to her floor and into her room before making her way to her own floor._

_Maybe, Stark could still be fixed. It was never too late to show an old dog new tricks._

_Though Natasha never did figure out that her cup wasn’t full of alcohol until she linked in the sink the next morning._

.

.

Natasha stood in the shadows of the living room in the West Wing. Though she wasn’t allowed to be there (_none of them were_) and she was sure that as soon as FRIDAY rebooted there would be hell to pay, but she couldn’t help it! 

Couldn’t Toni see what she was doing to her? To the team? Natasha and the others were her family and she just turned her back on them for her _new _family. The older woman had the power to fix this, to bring things back to the way they used to be.

But of course she wouldn’t.

Toni’s ego was so large, it might as well have its own orbit. Natasha had hoped that Steve would have been able to straighten her out but she couldn’t hope for miracles. While she was sure that the blonde Avenger had already tried his hand at talking to her, maybe it would be better for her to do so.

Before the Accords, her and Toni were beginning to grow closer; hell, they might have been called friends if given enough time. 

She was awoken from her thoughts at the sound of laughter coming down one hallway, leading into the common room and when she saw who it was she couldn’t help the scowl that made itself home on her face.

There was Toni, dressed up in a fancy pantsuit consisting of a plain black blouse, grey blazer, and grey trousers with a pair of black Louis Vuitton’s. Her hair was cut short and dyed with light brown highlights; of course, the outfit wouldn’t be complete without her trademark aviators and Natasha had to fight down the smile that was creeping onto her face before it was immediately wiped away as she remembered that the woman wasn’t alone.

Carol Danvers — the illustrious Captain Marvel, ally of Nick Fury himself, and the co-leader of the New Avengers; the replacements. Natasha would’ve scoffed if she wasn’t sure that she’d be heard. Toni could try and replace them all she wants, but the multi-billionaire could never forget her _true _family.

She watched as Toni promptly plopped onto the couch face forward and groaned loudly into the cushions. Carol chuckled as she planted herself down more gracefully next to Toni’s head; it was almost like routine as she watched the blonde woman carefully slip off Toni’s shades and lightly transfers the woman’s head from the couch to her own lap.

Natasha would be lying if she didn’t feel a bit of jealousy at the closeness of the two females, but she reminded herself that it would be temporary.

“You’d better not have hurt FRIDAY or there won’t be anything left for Toni when the rest of us are done with you.” Came the cold remark from the blonde Captain.

Natasha didn’t even need to be told who ‘us’ were, the New Avengers hadn’t made their distrust of the Rogues secret and practically made it their mission to make sure that Toni would never have to deal with her or the others unless absolutely necessary and not even then.

It would have stirred a feeling of anger in her, if she’d allow herself to feel it. 

“Just an old override code Toni gave me.” Natasha spoke as nonchalantly as she could, “Nothing that would shut her down, just... mute her for a while. She’ll be running in an hour or so.” She didn’t mention that technically she’d hacked Toni’s systems to get it; silly girl hadn’t even changed it. Instead of bringing up her obvious lie, the woman just nodded to herself as she brought her hands to run them gently through the mechanics hair.

“A little bit of friendly advice, Widow?” Carol lifted her head from where she’d been watching Toni and Natasha felt breathless at the sharp, cold steel gaze directed at her. The woman was so calm and soft with Toni—with the New Avengers, but Natasha had let herself forget who and what this woman was.

She was one of the strongest enhanced individuals she’d ever met, probably ever will meet, human-born or not. She’d be an actual fool to ignore the strength the blonde woman held in her _pinky_, let alone her whole body with or without her alien abilities. This woman could destroy them if she wanted. A trickle of fear crawled up her spine and it took everything in her to look Captain Marvel—not Carol—in her eyes with an emotionless mask and a single brow raised as if she weren’t internally fearing for her life.

“And that would be, Captain?”

“Stay the _hell _away from Toni.” 

**clint **

_He’d like to think of himself as a bit of a jokester._

_Not of the extreme nature like Stark herself or even Natasha when the mood struck her, but enough to where when an opportunity presented itself, he’d be an idiot not to take it._

_It’s not like the billionaire couldn’t just pay for hair extensions anyway and besides, maybe she’d learn to keep her guard up while napping._

_“FUCKING BIRDBRAIN!!” Came the loud screech from common room area as Clint raced down the hall towards the elevator that would lead him to sanctuary aka Steve._

_The sound of quickening footsteps followed him, but he’d made it to the elevator before her though the damn thing was taking forever. He heard the She-Devil praising her AI for holding up his transportation from behind and cursed lightly before seeing his freedom up above._

_“You better no—“_

_Clint jumped, or more like scrambled up the wall into the vents, ignoring her sounds of disbelief and making his way out of that section of the tower._

_As much power as JARVIS had, he couldn’t do anything to him while he was in the vent without harming him. Still, in the mood his creator was in, Clint wouldn’t risk it and so he made his way towards his destination quickly._

_He popped out the vent leading to the gym. Out of all places, he knew that if Steve wasn’t with Toni (ew) then he would be hitting some bags and he was proven right when he found the dear Captain working out on a poor punching bag._

_The man heard him, of course—super hearing and all. The muscular blonde turned towards him as he dropped from the vent and gave him a grin, as if he hadn’t seem in a long time though it’d only been a few days since he came from visiting his family._

_“Clint!” Steve exclaimed and walked over, clapping him on the shoulder in greeting, “How are you?” Out of all the people in the tower, the blonde superhuman was the one that didn’t enjoy the prank wars that came about; whenever he caught the ones participating he always gave that “_I-Am-So-Disappointed_” Captain America face that made Clint feel like a disobedient child. He didn’t like that feeling—sometimes it made him feel for Stark whenever that face was directed at her. She, like all of them, just wanted to have fun, but the mechanic just had a way of getting under their leaders skin._

_That was why he was sure that she wouldn’t do anything to him while Steve was around. The last thing that Stark would want was to start a(nother) argument between them._

_“I could be better, Cap.”_

_Steve’s brow furrowed in concern, “What’s the ma—“_

_“YOU FUCKER!”_

_And speak of the Devil, he turned his attention to the entrance of the gym with a smirk as he watched the mechanic come to a stop as she saw who was in the room with him. It was quiet as the woman went from a raging hellcat—hair a mess and missing certain sections, face flushed in red hot anger, the whole nine yards to a scolded child, body folding in on itself and lowering her head to the floor as she brought her hands up to wrap herself in a small hug._

_“Language!” Well, they didn’t call her a genius for nothing, “And what exactly did you think you were doing, Toni?” Ah, and there goes the face. It seemed that not even Stark was impervious to it as she simply chose to surrender._

_“Nothing,” she murmured, “me and Birdbrain were just playing around.” She didn’t move from her spot but she made sure to throw a vicious glare in his direction though all he did was reward her with a smug grin._

_“That didn’t seem like ‘playing’, Toni.”_

_“Well, that’s what it was Steve_ _.” Here, her voice seemed to rise a little and that was all it took for them to start squabbling._

_“Why do you always act like this, Toni?”_

_“Ever think that someone _makes _me act like this__?”_

_“Do. _Not. _Pin this on—!”_

_“Always take his si—!”_

_“Stop acting like a chi—“_

_Neither party noticed the agent slipping away from them as their attention was only on one another, making his way towards the now vacated door._

_Clint honestly didn’t know why Cap stayed with Stark. If her attitude and ego weren’t enough to leave her then the disrespect she showed him and the rest of the team — especially Wanda — would have been a deal breaker for himself._

_Then again, he never had to deal with someone like Stark. Laura wasn’t anything like that, but then again no one could be as special as his wife._

_Clint honestly didn’t know what he’d do without her or the kids. _

.

.

“What the _hell _is this, Laura?!” Clint roared as he stomped towards his wife who was standing in the kitchen area behind the island, the team following behind minus Wanda (she was still trying to get Vision to talk to her) with equal amounts of shocked painted on their faces though Natasha hid hers well; only the slight widening of her eyes giving her away.

Laura stood before them, cold as ice and sharp as a knife as she stared him down in an uncomfortable silence. It was times like these that Clint remembered that he married an agent rather than a regular woman. 

It could have been a few minutes for all he knew, but it felt like decades before his wife even opened her mouth.

“That,” she started coolly, “would happen to be the divorce papers that I would appreciate you signing, Clinton.”

He breathed in shakily, trying to contain the deep, hot anger (and failing) and tried to keep a level head, “How much?”

A single brow rose, “How much.. what?”

He laughed a harsh and unforgiving sound as he stared his wife straight in the eyes, never breaking eye contact.

“How much is Stark paying you to do this, Laura?”

If Laura was cold before, she was downright frigid now as she stared down at him as if he was beneath her, “_Excuse me_?”

“Laura,” Natasha started, “Clint didn’t mean it, you know ho—“

Clint didn’t even let her finish her sentence, “No, I meant exactly what I said.” He started as he stomped over to his _wife _and used his height to tower over her; an attempt to intimidate her though it didn’t seem to be working and just served to make him angrier, “How fucking much is Stark paying you for this? That’s all she’s ever been good for, throwing her money around at others to make them stay with her!” He spat, “That’s the only way that anyone wants to be around her anyway.”

“Clint!” Steve shouted, that scolding tone of his making an appearance.

“No!” He was getting louder now and he knew it, he’d be surprised if none of the _New _Avengers came to check what was happening. What a fucking joke. It was bad enough that she pushed the rest of them, her old _family _away and now Stark had ruin everything by taking his family from him. 

He wouldn’t have that. He couldn’t let her win, not after everything she put them all through; Steve, Barnes, Sam, Nat, _Wanda. _It was going to stop now.

“Stark always has to take everything from us, she can’t just ever leave without the last fucking laugh!” He slammed his fist onto the kitchen counter and didn’t miss the slight flinch from Laura though she tried to hide it. Any other time he would have tried to comfort her, but not this time. He wasn’t going to leave until she saw through Starks plan, until she realized that she was a pawn to get to him, “You’re not going to take my kids from me, I won’t let you Laura and you’re not going to leave me.”

“Mr. Barton,” the fucking machine that Stark created spoke up, “if you do not calm down, I will be forced to tranquilize you. And trust me, it will be more unpleasant for you than it will be for me.”

“Why don’t we all just try and calm down, yeah?” Sam spoke up for the first time from beside Cap, “We don’t want to give Stark or any of the others a reason to kick us out.” This he directed at Clint while walking up to get between him and Laura. Clint almost screamed at him—what did he fucking know anyway?! But one look from Nat and Steve made him back down and he allowed the ex-military to pull him back towards the rest of the group and he watched as Laura allowed her tense muscles to relax though only slightly.

It took her a minute to pull herself back together but when she did, all he was left with was the Agent his wife used to be instead of the warmth and comfort of Laura Barton.

This was Laura Bowman.

“And this is why I can’t allow you near the kids.” When he opened his mouth to scream once more at her she cut him off, “If you can lose your temper on me, your ‘wife’ then what’s to stop you from raging at the kids? To little Nate?” At this, he froze.

What was she talking about? He would never do anything, _anything, _to hurt his kids! Nothing could ever make him hurt them in any type of form... but, _hadn’t he already done that? _Hadn’t he already hurt them when he left them while he was in retirement? Dad left them at the drop of a hat as soon as Captain America called for him.

But it was the right thing to do! Stark was trying to tie them towards a corrupt government, people with agendas! Laura knew about that, knew that horrible people could take control of the Avengers and turn them into human weapons! They had Ross of all people supporting the Accords, that was enough said!

He did the right thing!

… hadn’t he?

He could hear Laura sigh into the open air, the sound as tired and somber as he himself felt. Clint felt rather than heard his wife walk over to him as she placed a delicate hand on his shoulder and he lifted his head to stare Laura in her beautiful chocolate brown orbs that he fell in love with the first time they connected with his own, “Sign the papers, Clint. If not for me then for the kids.”

That was what she left him with as she made her away from him and the others.

He stood there, feeling the world rest itself on his shoulders, for a while before someone attempted to even get through to him. It was Steve (because of course it was) and he laid a hand in the same spot that Laura had and gripped it tightly, “Don’t worry Clint.” The Captain told him in a comforting tone, “She just needs time. She’ll understand that we did the right thing and,” here the super soldier allowed himself to sigh, “she’ll rethink this whole divorce over, okay?”

Yeah, Cap was right. With time, Laura would realize that Stark was just trying to tear them apart and come back to him along with the kids.

It would all be fine in the end.

He knew it.

**steve**

_Two years._

_It had been two years since he'd last step foot on US soil. Two years since he held his shield (_<strike>howards </strike><strike>shield</strike>).

_Two years since he'd last seen Toni._

_Steve clenched his fist around his shield. The last time he saw her wasn’t something he’d ever forget... (_freezing weather. gotta protect buck. why? why can't she understand? <strike>**wh**</strike>-_) __a hand clapped his shoulder, he lifted his gaze from the floor to the icy blue gaze of his best friend. Bucky hadn't said much to him since coming out of cryo, hell, the older man hadn't said much to anyone, but the man had been like a silent comfort for him. In a different way from his past self, the old Bucky._

_At a distance, but still there to pull him back to reality. The part of his past that he never wanted to forget._

_Unlike Toni who'd always been close and in your face, shining like a beacon of hope, competing only with the sun with how bright she shown; the future he'd been working towards before he blew it._

_"I'm alright, Buck." He reassured the man and Bucky nodded, quietly removing his hand and going back to sit next to Nat on the right of him, the redhead giving her teammate a nod of acknowledgement before staring back at her feet with her ever present blank stare. The ex-assassin hadn't been the same since leaving Toni either and even he could see that Natasha Romanoff _and _the Black Widow missed the woman almost as much as he did._

_He sometimes wondered if she regretted letting him and Bucky go back in Germany..._

_”It’s about fucking time we made it back..” Clint’s gruff voice came from his left, Steve turning in his direction as the man started griping once more, “Stark better have a grand apology for all the fucking shit she’s caused for us.”_

_Steve clenched his fist as Wanda, right beside the archer, rolled her eyes with her mocking laughter filling the air, “Stark apologize? That monster doesn’t know how to do anything other than destroy or throw her money around to fix her problems.” Here, the witch started releasing her magic in red wisps of mist which started to circulate the floor of the Quinjet and before he could say anything about it—he wished that she’d learned to keep better control of her emotions—a low, guttural, animal-like growl filled the silence as Bucky raised his head to glare at Wanda, the woman in question immediately pulling her aura back into herself and _far_ away from his friend. Her mouth closed as she shuffled closer into Clint’s side, the archer keeping a wary eye on the ex-assassin as he slipped his arm over Wanda’s shoulder._

_The only ones who didn’t seem affected by Bucky’s hostile behavior were Natasha, Scott, and Sam—the last two sitting as far from Steve and the others as they could in their limited space._

_Steve sighed to himself as he thought over their years in Wakanda. It was a beautiful country, advanced and beyond words at the time, but it didn’t take long for the others and himself to miss home; becoming more of a gilded prison than an actual sanctuary after a while. It became even worse after he had told (<strike>been forced</strike>)to tell the truth about what happened between him, Buck, and Toni in Siberia._

_While it hadn’t seemed to matter much to some—Wanda and Clint—it had changed things with him and the others. Natasha couldn’t even stand to be near him most times, this being closest he’d been to her in a while, Scott had looked sick to his stomach and while the man tried to act like it didn’t get too him it wasn’t long before he started to give Steve and Bucky the cold shoulder, and Sam..._

_Sam had been distraught._

_Between him, Bucky, and Sam, he didn’t know who harbored the most guilt though he was sure that the ex-assassin was beating him and the Falcon by a landslide._

_Because, in a way, the ex-therapist blamed himself for what Steve and Bucky did to the older woman. He’d known that Sam had sent her towards them, alone and as an ally, and all parties came out of that winter hell worse for wear though no one more so than Toni. All the while, Steve had watched as the man spouted all kinds of horrible things about the Iron Maiden for her ‘betrayal’ and when it came out that all of it happened because of Steve and his own lies, the man had been on him like a rabid animal._

_It took Bucky, Clint, and even the Dora Milaje intervening before they could pull the Falcon off of him._

_He hadn’t even tried to defend himself; how could he? What right did he have to try and fight back when he knew that he’d beaten his ex-fiancée the same way. Steve hurt her, hell, the news stations at the time had said she was in short coma from all the injuries she’d gotten from him. He had deserved whatever Sam did to him._

_In the end, he’d acquired a black eye and a knot on the back of his head from where it’d connected with the floors and even that went away thanks to the serum. Sam hadn’t said a word to him, Wanda, or Clint after that._

_It had been a trying time for all of them—for **Bucky**—but they would all pull through from this. _

_“You will all be arriving at the Compound in approximately 10 minutes.” Came the cold tone of FRIDAY over the speakers._

_It would all be fine. Toni will understand, he just knows it._

_._

_._

Steve huffed as he fought to keep his gaze from shifting over to the other side of the gym where his ex-fiancée (he winced everytime the word crossed his mind) stood side to side with the King of Wakanda.

Out of all the things he’d expected, he hadn’t thought that the man who had given him—given _Bucky_—along with his teammates sanctuary would do this to him. Would hurt him like this. To flirt with the love of his life while he was around was something he hadn’t thought the younger man was capable of, but it seemed he hadn’t known T’Challa as well as he thought he did.

The young king was dressed in his royal garbs with his guard, Okoye, by his side, her ever stoic expression on her face though anyone could see in her eyes that she didn’t like being far from Wakanda or near Toni herself. The Iron Maiden either hadn’t noticed (which he highly doubted) or just didn’t care enough as she kept T’Challa’s attention on her the whole session while flaunting her assets in her sports bra and yoga pants combo.

And while he knew he had no right, he couldn’t stop the hurt and jealousy from swelling in his chest at the sight of the young king looking her up and down with a familiar emotion in his eyes at the woman he still loved dearly or the playful glimmer in her very own.

“So, Kitty Soft Paws,” he could barely resist the urge to roll his eyes at her disrespectful nicknames, “how’s it feel to be a honest-to-god Avenger?” She asked him, bumping her hip into his.

The young king chuckled lightly, “It is quite nice,” he started, “being able to see the world outside of Wakanda and work with different kinds of people who aren’t made to serve or cater to me.” At this, he looked behind him and gave an apologetic nod to Okoye who only gave him a quirked brow in response, “I do care deeply for my people, but even I would like to meet others different from myself and learn from them, some very much like yourself.” This T’Challa punctuated with a small hip check into her.

“Hmmmm, are you flirting with me, Garfield? Is this what it feels like to have royalty flirt with you?” She placed a hand on her atop her Arc Reactor and fluttered her eyelashes dramatically, “Don’t play with my heart like that Kitty, it’s too weak for a hot piece of chocolate man to fluster it so.”

T’Challa laughed out loud, an action unbecoming of a king if Steve could say so, the young man pulling himself together even as a few chuckles escaped him, “Is that so, Dr. Stark?” His voice turning smooth and sultry as he gazed into her eyes and dammit, Steve was fighting with himself to not punch the king right in his perfect cheekbones.

"It is very much so." She responded in kind.

Steve watched as Okoye rolled her eyes in annoyance, whether the action was directed at Toni or her king he didn't know, all he cared about was the fact that she was not putting a stop to their flirting. His ex-fiancée was basically throwing herself at T'Challa and the Dora was doing nothing to hinder it; it was obvious that Okoye didn't like Toni (not many people do at first), so he was wondering what kept her from removing the other woman from her king.

"My King," Okoye started. _Finally_, now he wouldn't have to listen to his dame propositioning another man, "It would be best to do this where other ears wouldn't be.. _privy_ to this conversation." With that, her eyes caught Steve's and he felt himself flush as three pairs of eyes landed on his skulking form, not even noticing that he had stopped his assault on his punching bag to listen in on the three of them. He lowered his head and quickly gathered up his equipment to leave, but not before looking up in hopes that he'd catch Toni's eye. 

He just needed her to talk to him. To say something, anything. He was sorely disappointed when the Iron Maiden had already turned her attention back to T'Challa and Steve felt his heart shrivel up and die when the king did the same; the only one who was still baring holes into his temple was Okoye and she had made herself very clear with her earlier statement.

Leave.

And so he made himself scarce, internally mourning the loss of the woman he loved and the fact that Toni didn't even seem to care that he was leaving. 

**Author's Note:**

> this is the longest thing i have ever written that wasn’t for a school paper and im honest to god here for it. this might become a thing, but don’t hold me to it.
> 
> also follow me on [my tumblr ig](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/chickadeebabe)


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